Brief post ahead of the weekend…in which I discover a new meaning of the words “Shuddho” and “Aushuddho”. Extracted from Sh CJS Walia’s review of Arun Shourie’s “EMINENT HISTORIANS: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud”
Several of Shourie’s chapters appeared first as columns. One of his readers sent him a copy of a circular sent by the West Bengal Government Secondary Board ordering revisions of Class IX History textbooks..
The accompanying pages contained two columns: Aushuddho (Errors) and Shuddho (Corrections).
Shourie provides numerous examples from these pages.
From Bharuter Itihash by Shobhankar Chattopadhyaya, published …

From the first part of this story:
As Guru-ji returned to Punjab in 1670, news of his increasing influence reached Aurangzeb. Royal reporters mentioned how “For years by now…he (Guru Tegh Bahadur) has been conducting an extensive whirlwind tour of the country. He has been going about with many thousand men. He is also collecting funds”
Aurangzeb received these reports in the North-west where he was dealing with the rebellion of Pathans. As Kartar Singh-ji notes:
He (Aurangzeb) had no time to make intensive enquiries about allegations. …

Many of you would remember the promise I made some days ago to share  the inspiring story about the life of Guru Tegh Bahadur-ji on this blog.
I was hoping to do last week but my visit to North-East delayed this post. That said, Guruji’s story is timeless…and will no doubt be retold many many times…What follows is my humble attempt at depicting the life of this saint.  Although we are all very familiar with Guru Tegh Bahadur’s name, his deeds – like hundreds of other proud chapters from Indian history …

This weekend, please find a selection of articles from the North-East, touching on some of the topics previously discussed here. More “Notes from North-East” next week. Stay tuned.
The first extract on Majuli, the world’s largest riverine island in the world and its “Satras“:
Majuli was one of the nerve-centres of the Neo-Vaisnavite Movement during its heydays. It was at Majuli (then known as Dhuwahat, Ahom territory) that Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva met his foremost disciple and apostolic successor, Madhavadeva for the very first time, in the 16th century. This event, referred to …

I first became aware of Mata Gujri after reading a poem by my friend Gurmeet which she shared on Facebook. The poem was a tribute to Mata Gujri-ji on the occassion of Mothers’ Day. It was enough to spark my curiousity. I decided to find out more…and was not disappointed. Here – in excerpts – is the extraordinary story of Mata Gujri Ji, from the almost forgotten pages of Indian History.
In a talk Gurmeet delivered in 2004, she called Mata Gujri a  perfect woman,a “Puran Istree“.
The word “Stree” originates …

Adarniya BalaSaheb, Pranaam.
I would have written this letter in Marathi but most of my blog readers are Indians.
I have never done a survey to find out how many of them are Maharashtrians – nor made any attempt to block non-Maharashtrians from reading what I write. Indeed most of my writing is in English. This is not because I am ashamed or embarrassed about my mother tongue. On the contrary, I am grateful to my parents for cultivating in me a love of languages and for helping me learn a language …

Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this guest post by Kedar. It takes a fresh look at the Battle of Sinhgad from the perspective of game theory. Read on. Have a safe, refreshing weekend.
*** Game theory and battle of Singhad ***

By Kedar Soman

In March of 1670, in the middle of one night, Tanaji Malusare attacked Singhad on Shivaji’s orders. He , his brother Suryaji and his maternal uncle Shelar mama, and the soldiers climbed the cliffs to enter the fort and caught the fort army by surprise. In …

While trawling the web looking for something else a few days ago, I stumbled on an account of a meeting between Swami Samarth Ramdas and Guru Har Gobind ji that took place in Kashmir almost 400* years ago.
This was an unexpected discovery. I was not aware that such a meeting had taken place…and I wondered whether the encounter had a role to play in Samarth Ramdas’ later life when he came in contact with Shivaji Maharaj.
Unfortunately there was not much I could find about the meeting, except a few links. …

Start this weekend with excerpts from Kashmir: Propagation of Islam and the Terror of the Sufis” by M A Khan (emphasis mine):
How did Islam come to Kashmir?
“It came through the peaceful missionary preaching of the Sufis,” comes the answer.
Sufis have been universally credited with the peaceful propagation of Islam around the world. An Islamic legend tells us that there was a king in Kashmir, at an unknown point in time, who had no religion. One day, he wished to adopt a religion. Both Muslims and Hindus came to convince him. …

In the first part of this post, I cited evidence contrary to Sh Sanghvi’s assertion that “Hindu kings destroyed Buddhist monasteries…”
Sh Sanghvi’s second point was that, as a consequence of such destruction (which we now know is not supported by historical records) Buddhism declined in India – that land of its birth.
Let us start by what Dr B R Ambedkar had to say on the decline of Buddhism in India:
“..There can be no doubt that the fall of Buddhism in India was due to the invasions of the Musalmans…Islam came …

This post was triggered by Vir Sanghvi’s misleading article “Ayodhya for dummies” that he wrote in response to his “younger readers…(who are) mystified by the fuss and annoyed by the refusal of journos to tell them what it (Liberhan Report) was all about”
RC has already done a masterful dissection of Vir Sanghvi’s seemingly clever play with words. So I will limit myself to a specific flippant remark made by Vir Sanghvi viz. “…Hindu kings destroyed Buddhist monasteries, more or less throwing Buddhism out of India”
Before I begin, I must stress …

This post is dedicated to Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar – perhaps the greatest of any warrior queens we had in history.

Many of you must have heard about her….but unfortunately her story is largely unknown and has not got the attention it deserves.  Although her 30-year reign is widely regarded as the model for a benevolent and effective government and administration, her rule is usually a  footnote in medieval history – which is a shame considering her astounding achievements and philosohpy of governance.
Devi Ahilya was born into a Patil …

This weekend, enjoy some history…
Start by reading about recent ISRO research that appears to confirm the presence of River Sarasvati in present-day Haryana. A brief excerpt from Sarasvati Nadi in Haryana:
Detailed studies on the status of Saraswati Nadi of northern Haryana have been carried out using multidate and multi resolution satellite images, GIS techniques and ground data. Palaeochannels have been delineated using remote sensing techniques and validated using discovered archaeological sites, sedimentological data from drilled wells and water quality data. Detailed analysis of hydrological data (rainfall and stream discharge), catchment area and petrographic …

Start this weekend by reading Sandeep’s views on the Hindu Holocaust. 
Next an impassioned plea for broadminded, enlightened Indian Muslims to speak out. Amazingly, it was written more than 16 years ago! Unfortunately I have no URL link to this article, so I am reproducing it in full below.
Finally, a thought-provoking essay on Interfaith Marraiges by Dr Dilip Amin. It is a long article but I have reproduced excerpts below.
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